Tag Archives: faith

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What to Expect When Walking by Faith

A Lesson Learned from a Story Worth Telling

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It was nearly nightfall when Moses looked out over the trembling waters of the Red Sea, took a deep breath, and held it. There it was, exactly where God said it would be.

Moses stood, staring for a moment, as if expecting the watery barrier to fade like the many mirages he’d seen in the desert for decades while tending sheep.

Now I have sheep of a different kind, the fledgling leader thought. He exhaled slowly while turning toward the teeming masses— nearly two million people—that stretched as far as he could see. They had cheered him just a few days ago as they followed him out of Egypt, but they weren’t cheering now. Their furious, frustrated cries washed over him yet again. They clamored, complained, accused, and threatened to desert him.

They’re just afraid, Moses thought, an emotion he understood only too well. As he continued his pivot away from the sea, he saw what the people saw behind them: the mightiest army in the world. The Egyptian host stood ready to recapture or destroy them, whichever came easiest.

He could see them only vaguely now, for they were blurred by the flaming cloud that had descended between them earlier that day. Now as the daylight faded quickly, Moses could see the flames more distinctly, an inferno sent by God Himself to separate them from the Egyptians bent on vengeance.

Encouraged by the vivid reminder of God’s intervention, Moses shook his head as if to clear it of fear and focus his faith on the One who had appeared to him in that burning bush.

It felt so long ago, so far away.

And yet, in spite of the bleak scenario, he could not shake the same sense he had felt then: God was up to something. Even now, in this dark hour, he could feel it.

God is about to move, Moses thought, if only we have the faith to follow.

The obstacles he faced now—the sea in front, the army behind, and a mob all around—might as well have been the same mountains that had surrounded him that day he’d first encountered God while alone in the wilderness. Those mountains hadn’t stopped him then, and somehow he doubted these barriers would stop God’s people now.

The sea and the army sure looked imposing, even insurmountable, but he had seen enough to know one thing: God is bigger.

Moses held his arms out beside him, palms upward and open. He lifted his face expectantly toward the starry sky and muttered: “I guess you know I’m out of options here. If you’re going to move, now would be a good time.”

Why God Waits to Deliver Us

When we trust God enough to stand down, we invite His power to show up.

When we trust God enough to stand down, we invite His power to show up.

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But that doesn’t mean God will show up on our schedule. I’m sure Moses would have preferred God open the Red Sea sooner. But the story could not so wondrously reveal the majesty of God if he had not been so radically dependent on him.

God shows his greatness best when our situation can’t get much worse.

God shows his greatness best when our situation can’t get much worse.

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The psalmist declared that God would save us “just at the break of dawn” (Psalm 46:5 nkjv). He loves to wait until we are out of options so there can be no mistaking who is responsible for the solution.

It should not surprise us when God waits until just before morning to deliver us. In fact, we should expect it.

Question: What about you? Have you ever had a Red Sea Moment when you had to step out before you saw God move as He promised? Share your thoughts by clicking here.

A Story Worth Telling_cov_Versa.inddThis post is an excerpt from my new book A Story Worth Telling: Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life.

For a limited time, get a FREE chapter here.

For the month of June, pastors and ministry leaders only can get the entire book FREE here.

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Why We Need to Celebrate Success More

5 Reasons to Unleash the Power of Party

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What if you throw a party and no one comes? Is it still a celebration?

As I write these words, it is the morning of my book launch. A Story Worth Telling has been nearly two years in the making — more than that if you count the living-of-the-story part.

And we have worked hard to prepare for it. There have been a lot of long nights and early mornings and full weekends and questions from my youngest son like, “Daddy, when are you going to stop working?”

This morning I’m not scouring the Internet for any mention of the book. I’m not nervously reading reviews. I’m not watching sales numbers.

I’m pausing to reflect on just how good God is and why I need to celebrate more.

The Tyranny of the Next

In American culture, we seem enslaved by what I call The Tyranny of the Next. What we have now is never enough. What’s coming next is what captivates our hearts. New necessarily means better. New car. New job. New definition of marriage. Different is cool. Normal? Not so much.

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5 Common Responses to a Faith Challenge

Which Way Do You Choose When the Going Gets Tough?

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It’s been said that when the going gets tough the tough get going. But let’s face it: it’s easy to say we believe until we face a faith challenge.

Only when we face a challenge do we discover what our faith is made of. Only then do we realize that growing our faith will take some work.

It might help to think of our faith challenge as a growth curve. When we first begin to step out by faith and test both ourselves and God, we’ll meet resistance.

Resistance doesn’t mean right or wrong, it just means we’re moving in a new direction. Easy doesn’t mean we have God’s green light. In fact, if we’re trying to grow our faith in response to a faith challenge, we should expect it to be difficult at first, especially early in the curve.

When I first started on the path to becoming a professional writer, nothing was easy. I mean nothing.

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7 Ways to Distinguish between Fear and Faith

Are You Sure You Know the Difference?

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I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen fear keep someone from walking by faith. I’d be rich. Unless I had to pay someone else for all the times I let fear send me into hiding.

Along my journey to live a story worth telling, I have developed what I can only describe as a sensitivity to faith opportunities. Having confronted my own faithless demons, I seem to more easily recognize the symptoms of faithlessness in others. Here are a few popular and telling expressions:

  • We can’t afford to do that.
  • We don’t have time to do that.
  • That sounds risky.
  • What if it doesn’t work out?
  • There’s only so much to go around.

But when you learn to walk by faith — to do what you believe to be true, often in spite of what you see, sense, or feel — your perspective changes. Now when I hear something may be risky, my ears perk up.

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What Writing a Book Taught Me

6 Lessons I Learned from Writing a Book about Faith

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I had always dreamed of writing a book. I know, some of you are thinking, I have that same dream while others are thinking, Who needs yet another book?

I empathize with both of you, actually. Now that I’ve written several books, both by myself and with others, the process isn’t nearly as mysterious as it once was. But it is not an easy task — at least not to write something someone will find worth reading.

Along this journey to write A Story Worth Telling: Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life, I examined every passage of Scripture referencing faith, belief, or trust. You name it, I’ve probably dismantled it.

And then to tackle such a topic that people much smarter than me have written about for centuries — well, it was a bit intimidating at times.

But the greater challenge was managing my time.

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What Everybody Ought to Know About Faith

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One thing I’ve learned on this journey to live a story worth telling is that living by faith is more of a process than an event. Even the most passionate Christ-follower is tempted to settle, to find a safe place where faith doesn’t seem quite so necessary for survival.

The good news is this: God will not let His children settle. For when we settle, we cease to trust. When we cease to trust, we fail to please God.

When we settle, we cease to trust. When we cease to trust, we fail to please God.

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We Were Made for Adventure

God’s first instruction to us at Creation was to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it. It was a command to keep moving forward alongside Him, to always be seeking the next adventure. He repeated the command to Noah and his family after The Great Flood.

And yet what do we see within a few generations but an effort to settle down instead of stepping up. In a place that came to be called Babel, they said: “Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4)

Even though the rest of the world lay unexplored, they chose to settle. They pulled back in fear instead of stepping out with courageous faith. They chose to consolidate their own power so they wouldn’t need to trust in God. Or so they thought.

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To All Those Who Want Their Story to Matter

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Someday, you will tell your story. You may tell it here and now in this life or there and then in your next season of existence, after you have “shuffled off this mortal coil.” But it’s going to happen. The question is: will your story be worth telling?

Whether or not your story will be a good one will depend on one thing – your faith.

I don’t mean your commitment to organized religion or your ability to describe a conversion experience in vivid detail. We Christians are good at assuming our story will be good because we once said a prayer to secure a spot in heaven someday. I’m not talking about fire insurance.

I’m talking about faith – doing what you believe to be true, often in spite of what you see, sense, or feel. Faith is what writes your story and determines whether it will be a story worth telling.

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Why You Need Not Fear Being Afraid

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My friend Dan Nichols recently wrote a post identifying fear as the greatest threat to leadership. It got me thinking. I agree that fear keeps many people from living a story worth telling, but it doesn’t have to if we make fear our friend.

None of us enjoy feeling that our story might not turn out the way we want it to. Fear is what we feel when we sense we’ve lost control, when we’re uncertain about what might happen next. When we don’t know how things are going to turn out, we feel fears icy grip tighten around our soul.

But fear is not all bad. In fact, out of our control is what we should be feeling — it is the reality in which we live. When circumstances bring us face-to-face with this reality, we have a choice: let our fear control us, or see it as an opportunity to live a more authentic life.

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Why You Should Create a Crisis to Grow Your Faith

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None of us like having our faith tested. Yet when hard times hit us, we cry out to God—and that’s a good thing. We have no choice but to trust Him more when life spirals out of our control. When tough stuff happens, we more clearly see our need to depend on God. It seems that our faith grows the most when life gives us its worst.

On my journey as FaithWalker, I have discovered this reality: the only thing harder than trusting God when you have nothing, is trusting God when you have something. When we stepped out to answer God’s call, and faced a mortgage payment due in three days with no way to pay, we had no choice but to trust God. When we had six children to feed with almost no income for nearly a year, we had to trust God to give us food.

But when we came out on the other side of that transition and began to be blessed with ways to meet the needs ourselves, our faith didn’t seem quite so necessary. Key word: seem. From God’s perspective, nothing had changed, but from our perspective, we no longer needed to trust God for our next meal or mortgage payment.

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8 Tips to Keep Your Faith Fit

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Do you work out? I do. Well, at least since the first of the year, I do. We all know regular physical workouts keep us physically fit and give us the sustainable energy we need to succeed.

But what about exercising our faith in God?

On my last visit to Guam, I chatted with my friend Pastor Albert Alquero of Abundant Life Church. He and his wife Judy are fellow FaithWalkers who followed God all the way to Guam many years ago. As we chatted, I shared how I didn’t want my faith to settle. I wanted to keep walking by faith after seeing God move so mightily in our lives over the last few years. I had reached a comfortable place and that had me worried. I was concerned my faith would become fat and lazy once again.

Albert nodded, understanding my concern and agreeing on the need to keep our faith fit. But after a brief pause, he asked what both of us were thinking, “So how do we do that?”